


Inevitable

by a_mere_trifle



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-07-15
Updated: 2010-07-15
Packaged: 2017-10-10 13:45:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/100421
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/a_mere_trifle/pseuds/a_mere_trifle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>(AU) Dave vs. Davesprite. Dave wanted to ask what the hell kind of world it was when you couldn't even trust yourself, but looking back, the whole meteor apocalypse thing had been a pretty big clue that "fair" was not a valid concept anymore.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Inevitable

**Author's Note:**

> Pretty much jossed a while back-- well, _probably_, who can tell-- but I dunno, it has a couple of redeeming features, so what the hell. I probably don't even want to think about how long it's been. Anyway here have some angsty nonsense.  
> (editnote: definitely jossed. kind of okay though.)

Dave wanted to ask what the hell kind of fucked-up world it was when you couldn't even trust yourself, but looking back, the whole meteor apocalypse thing had been a pretty big clue that "fair" was not a valid concept anymore.

Besides. It probably wasn't his fault. Dave stole a moment to lean against the hot brick, breathing heavily, sweating in the heat that shimmered up in slow waves from the lava below. It was probably just another goddamn sprite thing. He'd figured there'd been a reason future him had said they should take turns going through the last Gate. He'd figured there'd been a reason he'd volunteered them to go first.

But that still left him with a badass magic future crow self who was trying to kill him. And doing a pretty decent job of it, too.

He gave the end of the bowtie another yank; you couldn't really tie a tourniquet on your arm yourself, not well, and silk wasn't the best material to do it with, but maybe this would hold for long enough.

"C'mon, bro, there's no point in hiding anymore," said the Davesprite, still searching for him in the distance, but getting closer. He'd know to come to this roof. Their sense of irony wouldn't let this end anywhere else. "Don't you want this shit over with? Aren't you tired? I know I'm tired. Four goddamn months. Did I ever tell you that?"

He hadn't. He might've been less cagey than the other sprites, but that hadn't made him eager to share. He hadn't wanted to talk about it, and Dave hadn't wanted to ask. Hadn't wanted to know. He was much too close to it already.

"You try making decent gear with only three worlds to work with. John's cache barely counted, either-- didn't have a lot of time for grinding before he got his dumb ass killed. I still don't know what happened to Jade. I was talking to her and suddenly she just flipped the fuck out. Wouldn't say why. Just 'John' and 'no' and 'this wasn't supposed to happen'. Then she said goodbye. And I never heard from her again."

_Why the fuck are you telling me this?_ All this time and _now_ he decided to open his feathery piehole. Jesus, he really was kind of a prick.

But maybe there was a reason.

"I know you never asked, but I'm gonna tell you anyway. See, you don't get to not know this, you little prick. You're not allowed. That'd be cheating. And you know what happens to cheaters in this game."

And yeah, he hadn't asked, not about anything, but for--

\--no. That wasn't true. He'd asked one question.

That was it. Of course, that was the goddamn key. He wondered if the avian asshole knew.

"One of us is gonna die here," said the Davesprite.

"I knew it was probably a bad idea to make my kernelsprite so awesome," said Dave. He knew the trick of it now; there wasn't any reason not to answer anymore.

"Trust me. Calsprite was worse. Calsprite was a feathered abomination against everything that was ever decent in this world. Even after this, you still owe me for saving you from that."

He could believe that. Another thing he'd tried very hard not to imagine. "Yeah, but no way he would've come this close to kicking my ass. That could've only been you."

"Jesus, Lalonde's got it right, I really am an insufferable narcissist. I guess you think you've got a plan, now, huh?"

Dave got to his feet, stepping out from behind the stairs; the Davesprite was at the other side of the roof, waiting. Yeah, this was definitely a sprite thing. If he'd really wanted Dave dead, he'd already be gone.

That didn't exactly help.

"Yeah," said Dave. "I think I know how this goes."

"C'mon, then," said the Davesprite. "Free shot. Bring it."

Huh; maybe he didn't know, after all. Dave didn't need a free shot. He needed a distraction.

He ejected the box of fireworks from his sylladex and sent a burst of flame after it.

"Oh, for fuck's-- tell me you're kidding," said the Davesprite, as the fireworks began over his shoulder, a roiling cloud of flame and sparks and smoke. "You can't think that's gonna hurt me."

"No," said Dave, and ducked out of the way as the sprite spread its wings, firing another one of those goddamn laser beams at him. It grazed him, of course, _again_, but at least it wasn't really going to bleed a lot. He pulled out his timetables just before he hit the ground; that was enough for causality's sake. As long as he had time to get the tables out, the universe usually seemed to give him the benefit of the doubt that whatever bullshit temporal reacharound he had in mind would work.

"Then what the hell are you--" said the sprite, turning to face him.

Dave looked up, half-crouching, wobbly, to watch as the Davesprite turned right into his future self, who had been hidden just enough by the smoke. His wings were still raised from his attack, leaving himself open.

_so  
that  
sword though the heart thing  
does it hurt_

"I'm sorry," said Dave, taking hold of the shitty katana in the Davesprite's chest.

_shit i dont even know anymore  
you get used to it after awhile_

And Dave pulled.

The sword came free, and the Davesprite began to fray at the edges, into glittering bits of magic as fine as dust. He looked down, confused-- and then smiled, just a little, shaking his head. "Shit. Of course. Why didn't I think of that?"

"You just got used to it," said Dave. "After a while."

"Four months or so," said his future. It took Dave a moment to figure out why.

"Goddamn metaphors." The sprite shook his head. "Sorry about trying to kill you."

"It's cool."

"Sorry about actually killing you," said his future.

"Nah, saw it coming a while back. No problem." His head was beginning to droop down, onto his fading chest. "Kinda glad to be done with it, to be honest. Whole load of miserable bullshit."

"Yeah," said Dave.

The Davesprite looked up, leaning forward, and whispered something into the future Dave's ear. Dave was too far away to hear it, but that was only a matter of time. Then he drew back, drifting backward--

And then there was a flash of red, blinding even though his shades. He blinked rapidly, shielding his eyes with his good arm as his vision slowly cleared.

The Davesprite was gone. There was a red gate in the middle of the roof. And two minutes from now, he was staring down at his old katana, which was perfectly stainless and clean-- except-- possibly, just possibly, glowing pure white.

"...Shit," he muttered, and went on Pesterchum. They'd figured John would go next, then Rose, then Jade, so it was John he called first.

TG: ok  
TG: i killed the denizen  
TG: or im about to   
EB: this is more of that time bullshit, right?   
TG: yeah that was pretty much inevitable   
EB: are you okay?   
TG: yeah  
TG: sucked pretty hard though  
TG: you should remember therell be a trick to it   
EB: what's the trick?   
TG: i dunno  
TG: i think theyll all have a different weakness  
TG: probably an ironic one  
TG: and youll have to figure out what that is   
EB: how am i supposed to do that??   
TG: youll know  
TG: youll pull it off  
TG: itll be hard but youll do it  
TG: and then were gonna kick someones ass   
EB: whose?   
TG: dont know yet  
TG: but ill find out  
TG: and youre going to help too   
EB: oh god, is this more time bullshit?  
EB: you know i'm not good at the time bullshit!  
TG: no  
TG: just regular bullshit  
TG: see you on the flip side   
EB: okay.

Dave switched off his glasses, taking a deep breath.

He hadn't wanted to think about what the other him had been through. Because if he thought about it too hard, then he'd understand, because they were only a couple months and a couple cataclysms apart. If he understood, then he'd know-- just how far he could be pushed, just how far he'd go and what he'd do--

\--just how much he actually could be hurt by things, despite all his efforts to the contrary. Just how much he actually did care.

Just how much he could change.

_You don't get to not know this. You're not allowed. _

Dave looked up. The person he'd be two minutes from now stared back at him, just for a moment, before turning away, stepping through the final gate, and vanishing in a flash of red.

Ironic; as much shit as he'd been able to screw with through time travel, it was also teaching him that some things were inevitable.

Dave swallowed, reached out to his timetables, and-- changed.


End file.
